Buckster
how much pressure will pilots be under now ? assuming they have final say on safety ? is it still ok these days for a pilot to say no - that route at that time is unsafe ?
Companies are not allowed to decide for themselves if a flight can or can not be done in closed airspace. Its up to the national authorities to define which parts of their own airspaces are closed for flights.
I think that each country should define the portions of national airspace that can be used for a certain period of time and
Eurocontrol should gather that information and define routes (like NAT organized tracks) to be used for (lets say) a 6 hour period of time. Companies should organize themselves to bring their passengers to (open) aerodromes closer, as much as possible, of their passenger destinations. (This could be a great test to Star Alliance, One World and others, to coordinate efforts in a crisis like this one).
Indeed, this is a great opportunity for the airlines to join efforts and to talk about cooperation issues, because this is only the very first one, of future world crises.
EU should lead and learn from its ineptness and lack of preparation, for catastrophes like this. Almost a week without any idea how to deal with this drama is not a good "business card" for the European Union. Paranoia is the enemy of common sense and all that the "authorities" have done so far, was to take flight safety to its "zero risk detent". Flight safety however, is the compromise of taking an operation under acceptable risk levels. The no fly decision leaves us without risks but, without operations also...
